This invention relates to a support for an article of furniture, and more particularly to a roller-type furniture support.
Various forms of furniture supports are known, some of which include rollers for facilitating movement of an article of furniture on a support surface such as a floor. A typical wheeled or roller-type furniture support is in the form of a caster that includes a stem, which is received within a downwardly facing passage formed in a leg or other component of the article of furniture. The stem extends upwardly from a bracket, and a roller or wheel is rotatably mounted to the bracket. A furniture support of this type is well suited for many applications, e.g. for an article of furniture such as a chair, which has vertically-extending legs and in which a certain amount of clearance between the lower end of the leg and the floor is either desirable or acceptable. This type of support is not particularly well suited for applications in which the article of furniture includes a laterally or horizontally extending support member adjacent the floor, and/or those applications in which a relatively small degree of clearance between the floor and the furniture support is required.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wheeled or roller-type furniture support that is well suited for an article of furniture that has a laterally or horizontally extending support member adjacent the support surface, such as a floor. It is another object of the invention to provide such a furniture support that provides a relatively small degree of clearance between the furniture support member and the support surface, which is especially well suited for low profile furniture supports. A further object of the invention is to provide such a furniture support that is capable of blending with the exterior of the furniture support member, so as not to detract from the overall design or aesthetic of the furniture support member. Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a furniture support which involves relatively few components and which can be easily and quickly assembled to the furniture support member.
In accordance with the present invention, a wheeled or roller-type support for an article of furniture includes a laterally extending support member defining an outwardly facing end opening and a downwardly facing recess spaced inwardly from the end opening. A wheel or roller is positioned within the downwardly facing recess, and a wheel retainer arrangement is secured to the support member at the outwardly facing end opening. The wheel or roller is rotatably supported by the wheel retainer arrangement. The wheel preferably includes a central laterally extending passage, and the wheel retainer arrangement includes an axle member that extends through the central passage such that the wheel is rotatable on the axle member. The wheel retainer arrangement also preferably includes an axle retainer that fixes the axle member in a pair of locations on either side of the wheel, and an end member that is secured to the support member over the outwardly facing end opening.
The axle retainer may be in the form of an axle bracket defining a pair of spaced apart walls and a space within which the wheel is located. The axle bracket is received within a passage that extends inwardly from the open end area of the support member, and the axle is engaged with the pair of spaced apart walls of the axle bracket to fix the axle member on either side of the wheel. The support member may include a lower wall having an open area which at least partially defines the downwardly facing recess. A lower edge defined by each of the pair of walls of the axle bracket includes an axle opening facing the lower wall of the support member, and the support member lower wall functions to maintain the axle member in each axle opening when the axle bracket is received within the passage of the support member. The axle bracket may be secured to the lower wall of the support member via a fastener that extends between and is engaged with the axle bracket and the lower wall of the support member.
The support member may include a laterally extending interior wall, and the end member may be secured to the laterally extending interior wall to maintain the end member in position over the end opening of the laterally extending support member. The lower wall of the support member includes an opening, and the end member is secured to the interior wall of the support member via a fastener that is inserted through the opening of the support member and is engaged with the end member and the interior wall of the support member.
The invention also contemplates a method of mounting a wheel to a furniture support, substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.